MORRISTOWN, Tenn. – As the final seconds ticked away in a 75-64 victory that clinched another regular season Tennessee Community College Athletic Association title, the seventh ranked Walters State Lady Senators celebrated a milestone victory for veteran coach Dave Kragel.

In his 35th season at Walters State, Kragel had a hard time holding back his emotions as the Lady Senators presented him with an autographed ball commemorating his 800th career victory at WSCC.

The milestone win also gave the Lady Senators (23-1, 15-0 TCCAA) a three-game lead in the TCCAA standings over Vol State (17-3, 11-3 TCCAA) and the tiebreaker with only three games left, assuring WSCC the top seed in the NJCAA Region VII tournament next month. The Lady Senators need just one win in their final three games to secure the outright regular season title.

Both teams swapped buckets back and forth in the early portion of the game before the Lady Pioneers pulled ahead 19-12 on a 6-1 run, but 3-pointers from Bre Hall and Karly Frye helped shave to deficit to 22-20 midway through the half.

The Lady Senators took their first lead on another 3-pointer from Hall with 7:35 left in the half, and Tangela Crenshaw, Donnesha Shuler and Aisjah Roan helped them keep the lead. WSCC took a 38-35 advantage into halftime.

Both teams shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half, with the Lady Senators making 13 of 26 from the field and Volunteer State knocking down 16 of their 32 attempts. Walters State made 8 of 12 free throws with the Lady Pioneers not attempting a shot from the charity stripe in the opening 20 minutes.

The back and forth battle continued in the second half, with Vol State taking a 46-43 lead before an 8-0 run by the Lady Senators put them back on top. The Lady Pioneers briefly tied it a 53 with 10 minutes to play, but a pair of free throws by Roan put Walters State back on top to stay.

The Lady Senators led 65-60 with five minutes left, and they scored eight straight after a 3-point play by Roan to put the game well out of reach in the closing moments.

Walters State shot 44.6 percent (25 of 56) from the floor in the win, but made only 5 of 17 from long range. The Lady Senators also scored 25 points off of 18 turnovers by the Lady Pioneers.

Crenshaw led Walters State with 20 points and 10 rebounds in the win, while Shuler added 15 points and Roan finished with 13. Hall tacked on nine points and Monashia Bolduc tallied eight in the victory as well.

Vol State shot 50 percent (27 of 54) in the contest, and Natasha West led them with 15 points. Carly Dickens totaled 12 points and Zuri Hill added 11 in the loss.

The Lady Senators will be back in action Wednesday when they travel to Cleveland to take on TCCAA rival Cleveland State inside L. Quentin Lane Gymnasium. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.